Bias buff and method of making the same



March 5, 1957 A. s. ROCK 2,783,594

BIAS BUFF AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 15, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 5, 1957 s, ROCK 2,783,594

BIAS BUFF AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 15, 1955 2 Sheet S-Sheet 2 Iweni'ofl: flzam IS. 800%,

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. same.

United States BIAS BUFF AND METHOD.OF MAKING' THE SAlVlE Albin S. Rock, East Bridgewater, Mass, assignor to F. L. & J. C..Codman Company, Rockland, Mass, a

corporation of Massachusetts Application April 15, 1955, Serial No. 501,504

7 Claims. (Cl. 51-193) Thisinvention relates to bias buffs and the object is to provide an improved construction of section, which in the more usual applications .will beset sideby side with other sections to form a wheel of the desired width of face, and to a .novel method ,of making the be a separate article ofsale. An. important advantage to .which, however, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited, is that the construction and method .per-

mit utilizing short. pieces of fabric for forming certain of the pliesof the section.

Byfbias. buifiI refer to a buifmade of a number of pliesofa woven fabric, set on edge andIpresentingthe .ends of the yarns diagonally at the working face of the If we took a length of one of these plies, which .inthe finished article isannularly curved (a circular ring sector), and drew itout in .a straight line it would be a straight strip as cut froma woveufabric on the bias In bringing the fabric to as, indeed, it originally was. annular form the weave may be somewhat distorted and also, the fabric, when considered as a sheet will be compressed into convolution or pleats, .in particular near the inner circumference of the annulus and progressively .throughout its radial depth. In the case of a'so-called rufiled buff, the outer circumference is also compressed, thedeveloped length of the fabric being greater than the circumferenceand the edge portion of the fabriewhich engages the work is tortuously convoluted.

;An obvious way of .producing a bias strip which can be brought into annular form is simply to cut it from a .web of fabric by two diagonal cuts. If the. web is .36

inches wide and.cut at a true biasangle of 45 degrees,

thiswill produce a strip about 50 inches long, and such strips can be sewn together end to end to make a longer L one. In practice however it has been customary toseam together the selvages of a length of fabric to form a tube and this. tubewas divided by helical cuts of the proper I spacing and at a suitable helix angle to produce strips of .indetinite length, which were of short lengths connected p together endpto end. Such a long strip was usually various objections and so far as I know has not been generally practiced.

In accordance with the invention a difierent method of forming theplied annulus is provided leading to a different ultimate construction and having the advan- 1 tage both as a method and as an article, that one or more of the plies canbe formed from short pieces or. remnants.

My invention will be well understood by reference to A section however might. be used alone and then would be a wheel having a narrow face. Whatever tliename the section is a manufacture as such and may atent .Hall patent referred t i i 1 the hinge14 is;co'n en1ent, .but not essential, to the inven- 2,783,594 te Mar- 11 591 "ice Z the following description ofthe preferred embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view with parts broken away illustrating an initial stage vof the assembly .of plies of fabric; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a later stageof the assembly, parts again being broken away and a part I turned back;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion cut from the assems Fig, 4 isa similar view showing theportion of Fig. 3 folded; v

Fig. 5 is an end view which shows how the folded blank of Fig. 4n1ay be manipulated to facilitate the'operation of. a sewing machine thereon;

Fig. 6 shows the completed blank after sewing;

Fig. 7 is a perspective which. represents the blank opened up to show that its form isan open-ended sleeve;

Fig. 8 is a similaryiew of a relatively short piece cut from the sleeve, similarly opened up,. this piecebeing adapted to be, transformed into an annulus; and

Fig.9 is. ajpar'tial radial isection through a bias butt of, one type which ma embody the present invention. Referringnowto Figl 9fof the drawings,- Ihave there shown byfway oflexample a portion of a butt similar, to

that disclosed in the patenttojI-Iall 2,450,193; and embodyinga pair of pliedannuli ll'of bias'fabric set's'ide by side, the two being joined. at the, inner circumferenceby fa hingeof fabric united to the annuli 12 "at that. point 30.

, far as. this iigure goes it curacy, as to" be .expectedlfromi a drawing of this char- 'acter, a buff t whieh th by the sewing, and nted on'acenter or hub 1'8. So

would. illustrate, with such ace: pliedannuli 12 were madein accordance with the presentjinyention, whiehlconstruction is ,dififirent, from that specifically disclosedin .the o. Q' 'Ifhe joining of the annuli by ti on, asthey inight .behalvfesofa single wider cylindrical V I describe first th band folded up the the: manner well known in the art.

I believe.that the ifinvention will behest understood if prefer method of manufacture Referingto Fig." 1',, 'a. lo n'g' webf15 of fabric as it comes in I theboltor; similarv package, ,may. be laid out on a table. If short ipiec'e's .ofqfabric(remnants. or mill ends) are to i be I utilized in the consltruetiom such .pieces 17 maybe laidon' top'of thestrip '15,.5ai1'd in Fig. 1 we may assume that they'are being laid on from left to right, the covering i not" connote' anyun aingt The" i of the st 'r'ip. 15, ,beingas fyet incomplete.

These pieces would ordinarilvihe ends :of webs efjhe same width or somewhatgreater width than thestrip 15 p and Qfva'riable le'iig'thg gahd' tlieyfmay be laid -on with the I warps of the pie'ces 'jparalleling the warps of -the, ottom sheet and one s'elvage (a the top of the fi ure). flush wider, proje'ctingat thebo'ttomQbe'yOnd thetedge oflthe S i as i e- 28 use. m mm q ou'fa a suitable stage 'in thefprocess; In' some casjes the pieces mightbe of suchshape or'size thatthe fillin g yarns would parallelthe warpsof web Also while selvages would [ordinarily and advantageously be present, the word is herein used primarily as a convenient term of description rather than a'word o'fliinitation.

fIn Fig Z'asecond continuousweb 19 is shown applied over thefsho'r'tfpieces: 17. such at assemblage of plies is sometim" crinedlaifbookf hpugh,,that word does bo ok illustrated and shown in Fig. 3, for reasons which will appear.

combinations of webs and pieces could be employed.

. Webswithout short pieces could be used alone. However, to permit handling, thebot't'om ply: and the top ply, and 19 in the specific example shown, should ordinarily be continuous webs. Then-in the finished article the pieces, if used, form an interior ply or plies.

The completed book of any suitable number of plies is now severed along diagonal lines, such as ab and cd, to provide sections having the form of an oblique parallelogram as shown in Fig. 3. The angle of these cuts is approximately 45 degrees, but there may be a slight variation in this, in order to facilitate making from a certain width of book a plied annulus of the desired dimension and characteristics. In other words, we cut our pattern to suit our cloth. If the angle is changed from 45 degrees the yarns at the periphery of the bud are not at a true bias position, but a certain amount of variation may be tolerated. The length'of the edges ad and 012 is also subject to some variation. It is desirable for economy to make themvsuch that the altitude as will be a multiple of the depth of the plied annuli which are to be produced, for reasons which will be obvious as the description proceeds, and it facilitates matters to make this multiple as large as possible for a single piece. On the other hand the length ad should not much exceed the width of the book,'that is, the vertical altitude of the parallelogram as In the drawing it is equal to the width.

In the next step the parallelogram is folded so as to bring the point b to the point a and the point d to the point c, producing what is shown in Fig. 4 wherein the "letters a and c, shown in parentheses after the letters b and d, indicate that the former are underneath. The selvage edges ad and be are brought into abutting relation.

The next step is to sew together the edges ad and cb which may be accomplished by folding the blank as seen in Fig. 4 along the lines of the selvages, so that they may be presented in aligned overlapping relation to the needle N of a sewing machine asseen in Fig. 5. A simple straight seam S unites the edges. This seam is of an overcast type, permitting the edges to be folded back into abutting relation. .When the length ad is the same as the I width of the fabric, as in. the example illustrated, the

abutting edges will extend from corner to corner of the folded blank in Fig. 4. If ad is shorter they will extend from one corner to an intermediate point of one side and there terminate. However, if the distance is greater they will extend from one corner to an intermediate point of a side, cross its edge and then continue at the back. In that case the sewing of the edges together could not be accomplished so readily and without additional manipulations and possibility of errors.

After the seam S is made the blank is returned to the position of Fig. 4 and now appears as shown in Fig. 6, it being in the form of a sleeve open along the ends bf and ed and consisting of a number of concentric plies, the

ends of each of the plies considered severally and the ends of all the plies considered-as a unit being joined together in end-abutting relation by the single seam S. In Fig. 7 the blank of Fig. 6 is shown opened up into a cylindrical form in order graphically to illustrate its tubular or sleeve-like construction.

The blank of Fig 6 may cut parallel to its open ends as for instance along the line gh in the figure, to provide a multi-ply sleeve of relatively great diameter and small altitude, as is further illustrated in Fig. 8, the width of the severed portion being such as to permit one or more of them to be distorted into an annular form to form a plied annulus 12 in a buff like Fig. 9 or a similar one. The numeral 12 is applied to Fig. 8 to show the relation of the parts in Figs. 8 and 9. If two plied annuli are to be made from a single plied assembly folded at the center of the buff, the portion cut from the blank of Fig. 6 or 7 would be twice as wide.

it will be clear that where the various short pieces of fabric 17 extend from selvage to selvage of the strips 15 and 17, then no matter how the cuts ab and cd are made, some portion of each of the short pieces 17 will be secured by the seam S. The pieces 17 will form a discontinuous ply between the continuous plies formed by sheets such as 15 and 17, but each separate piece will be anchored by the seam S, and in general some portion of each piece within the completed buff will be secured at the center, as by means of the stitching 16 in the example of Fig. 9, independently of Whether it is otherwise secured at positions further radially outward. When plied annuli embodying such discontinuous plies in connection with continuous plies are assembled as sections in a complete wheel, either by placing them side by side in parallel planes or by nesting one within another, or both,.it is found that no difficulties arise becauseof the brakes in the continuity occurring in the individual sections.

in forming the book as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it is very easy to align the edges of the various plies. Subsequent manipulations have little or no tendency to disturb their relative position even when short pieces are used. The single easily applied seam S locks all parts together. When a part is cut off its edges are either an original aligned edge or a line of severance. The steps are easy and may be rapidly performed by unskilled labor and result in a product of superior quality.

i am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, as is in fact clear in several matters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to the appended claims to indicate those principles of the invention exemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

I claim:

1. A method of making buff sections which comprises superposing a plurality of lengths of fabric with aligning edges, cutting diagonally across the assemblage to sever therefrom an oblique parallelogram, the opposite sides of which corresponding to the original longitudinal edges of the assemblage are not substantially longer than its altitude measured between them but are of a length corresponding to an integral multiple of the radial depth of a predetermined size of buff, folding in corners of the parallelogram to bring said sides into abutting relationship, uniting the abutting edges by a single overcast seam to provide an open-ended multi-ply sleeve with its plies joined against relative movement longitudinal of the sleeve, severing said sleeve into a plurality of ring sections each of a width once or twice the said radial depth and deforming each ring section into an annulus.

2. A method of making buff sections which comprises superposing a plurality of lengths of fabric with aligning edges, cutting diagonally across the assemblage to sever therefrom an oblique parallelogram, the opposite sides of which corresponding to the original longitudinal edges of the assemblage are substantially equal to its altitude measured between them, folding in corners of the parallelogram to bring said sides into abutting relationship, uniting'the abutting edges by a singleovercas-t seam to provide an open-ended multi-ply sleeve with its plies joined against relative vmovementv longitudinal of the sleeve, severing said sleeve into a plurality of ring sections each of a width once or twice the said radial depth and deforming each ring section into an annulus.

3. A method of making buff sections which comprises superposing a plurality of lengths of fabric with aligning edges, at least one of said lengths being made up of short pieces set end to end along the longitudinal direction, cutting diagonally across the assemblage to sever therefrom an oblique parallelogram, the opposite sides of which corresponding to the original longitudinal edges of the assemblage are not substantially longer than its altitude measured between them but are of a length corresponding to an integral multiple of the radial depth of a predetermined size of buff, folding in corners of the parallelogram to bring said sides into abutting relationship, uniting the abutting edges by a single overcast seam to provide an open-ended multi-ply sleeve with its plies joined against relative movement longitudinal of the sleeve, severing said sleeve into a plurality of ring sections each of a width once or twice the said radial depth and deforming each ring section into an annulus.

4. A method of making buff sections which comprises superposing a plurality of lengths of fabric with aligning edges, cutting diagonally across the assemblage to sever therefrom an oblique parallelogram, the opposite sides of which corresponding to the original longitudinal edges of the assemblage are not substantially longer than its altitude measured between them 'but are of a length corresponding to an integral multiple of the radial depth of a predetermined size of buff, folding in corners of the parallelogram to bring said sides into abutting relationship, again folding the resultant pad along the line of said sides to superpose them for the operation of a sewing mechanism thereon, joining such superposed edges only by a single overcast seam which permits their return to aligned position to provide an open-ended multi-ply sleeve with its plies joined against relative movement longitudinal of the sleeve, severing said sleeve into a plurality of ring sections each of a width once or twice the said radial depth and deforming each ring section into an annulus.

5. A butfing Wheel section adapted for assembly with other sections to form a wheel, said section comprising at least one annulus of short axial dimension embodying a multiplicity of fabric plies set side by side and presenting their yarns angularly to the outer periphery of the annulus, each ply extending through a single circumference between the plies on either side thereof but all the plies being united, each in end-abutting relation, by a single diagonal overcast seam through all the plies at one point in the circumference.

6. A buffing wheel section adapted for assembly with other sections to form a wheel, said section comprising at least one annulus of short axial dimension embodying a multiplicity of fabric plies set side by side and presenting their yarns angularly to the outer periphery of the annulus, at least one interior ply being composed of a series of ring sectors each ply extending through a single circumference between the plies on either side thereof but all the plies being united, each in end-abutting relation, by a single diagonal overcast seam through all the plies at one point in the circumference and each of said sectors having an edge portion thereof secured in said seam.

7. A blank for forming an annular section of a bias buff consisting of a plurality of superposed fabric plies corresponding in shape to an oblique parallelogram, two of the sides of which are bias to the weave of the fabric and two of which are parallel to the direction of one set of yarns, at least certain of the plies being continuous throughout the area of the parallelogram and those last mentioned edges of all the plies being united as compound units in a single overcast seam to provide a multi-ply open-ended sleeve.

Davies a. June 23, 1953 Jones Jan. 4, 1955 

